Sunday Musings - September 29, 2024
Housecleaning.
Housecleaning is the name of a poem by the United States poet Nikki Giovanni. She begins the poem by stating, “I always enjoyed house cleaning. She ends it with “And I find it must remove you from my life.” One can easily google this poem.
I recently thought of this poem when I was sharing my spiritual intention for the day. My intention was, “Clean out the garbage stored in my brain; the lies; the resentments; the judgements of others; the limits I place on myself and other harmful and non- essential data.”
When we think of spiritual cleanliness we may not always consider what is stored in our brain; the source of what is stored in our brain; the fact checking we did or did not do before storing information; the fear which accompanied what is stored in our brain; the “what ifs”; the judgement of others; the shields we have put to avoid uncomfortable truths about ourselves and the world; or the toxic waste of substances we have put in our bodies such as excessive alcohol, caffeine, and processed food.
The information we have stored in our brain and the toxic waste from unhealthy eating and drinking habits, the lack of exercise, the amount of emotional support determines the minute-by-minute decisions I make about how to live this brief life journey. The brain, after all, is the command center of this journey. If we hold on to toxic material which affect the mechanisms of my brain, we can daily articulate well-meaning spiritual intentions, but they will not become manifest reality. For example:
o We may be holding on to lies about our self-worth based on the mistreatment of someone in the distant or recent past. We may have internalized the lie that something was wrong with us; we somehow caused the abuse. We have decided based on some well-meaning professional that we are damaged for life. There is nothing wrong with us. We are not damaged for life although we may have scars.
o We may be holding on to the false belief that all people are untrustworthy which is not true. Most are trustworthy.
o We may be holding on to other false information which we have not sufficiently fact checked.
o We may be storing judgment of others thinking that we are perfect, and others are flawed. Obviously, we are all imperfect.
o We may believe that our religious framework is the only right one and all others are wrong; all others are based on false prophets.
o We may have labeled others as unworthy based on their religion, culture, immigration status, race, gender, sexual orientation or some other difference without knowing them or their circumstances.
o We may be holding on to an “all or nothing” way of thinking about other people, places or events.
o We may be allowing fear of other possible truths to keep us from growing/learning.
o We may need someone to be perfect - a potential mate, a spouse, a parent, or a politician and not allow them to be the imperfect. human they are.
In this day of many means of collecting and storing information we may need to do a lot of fact checking before we decide what to believe or who to trust. We do not want to mistrust all information or people.
Most of us are capable of fact checking the information in our brains or the information we may be considering storing in our brains. Sadly, often we look only for information which reinforces the misinformation already stored in our brains.
Lies, misinformation, generalized fears, shame and a host of other beliefs or emotions can prevent us from spiritually being our best self. We need to daily continue the process of cleaning our brains. We also need to avoid people, places and things which may want to store unhealthy lies or misinformation in our brain. This does not entail mistreating or judging others. It may be enough to know that we are not able to stay healthy if there is not some protective barrier between us and some other people, places and things. I can certainly pray for those who might cause me harm without judging them. We may or may not know what factors such as addiction, other mental illness, or medical issues are affecting behavioral decisions of others
As is true for Nikki Giovanni, I enjoy house cleaning or at least I enjoy the results of house cleaning. I may find it temporarily inconvenient or even uncomfortable, but I seem to be at my best when my home and my brain are less cluttered with real or metaphorical dirt.
Jimmy F Pickett
Written September 29, 2024
Coachpickett.org
Housecleaning.
Housecleaning is the name of a poem by the United States poet Nikki Giovanni. She begins the poem by stating, “I always enjoyed house cleaning. She ends it with “And I find it must remove you from my life.” One can easily google this poem.
I recently thought of this poem when I was sharing my spiritual intention for the day. My intention was, “Clean out the garbage stored in my brain; the lies; the resentments; the judgements of others; the limits I place on myself and other harmful and non- essential data.”
When we think of spiritual cleanliness we may not always consider what is stored in our brain; the source of what is stored in our brain; the fact checking we did or did not do before storing information; the fear which accompanied what is stored in our brain; the “what ifs”; the judgement of others; the shields we have put to avoid uncomfortable truths about ourselves and the world; or the toxic waste of substances we have put in our bodies such as excessive alcohol, caffeine, and processed food.
The information we have stored in our brain and the toxic waste from unhealthy eating and drinking habits, the lack of exercise, the amount of emotional support determines the minute-by-minute decisions I make about how to live this brief life journey. The brain, after all, is the command center of this journey. If we hold on to toxic material which affect the mechanisms of my brain, we can daily articulate well-meaning spiritual intentions, but they will not become manifest reality. For example:
o We may be holding on to lies about our self-worth based on the mistreatment of someone in the distant or recent past. We may have internalized the lie that something was wrong with us; we somehow caused the abuse. We have decided based on some well-meaning professional that we are damaged for life. There is nothing wrong with us. We are not damaged for life although we may have scars.
o We may be holding on to the false belief that all people are untrustworthy which is not true. Most are trustworthy.
o We may be holding on to other false information which we have not sufficiently fact checked.
o We may be storing judgment of others thinking that we are perfect, and others are flawed. Obviously, we are all imperfect.
o We may believe that our religious framework is the only right one and all others are wrong; all others are based on false prophets.
o We may have labeled others as unworthy based on their religion, culture, immigration status, race, gender, sexual orientation or some other difference without knowing them or their circumstances.
o We may be holding on to an “all or nothing” way of thinking about other people, places or events.
o We may be allowing fear of other possible truths to keep us from growing/learning.
o We may need someone to be perfect - a potential mate, a spouse, a parent, or a politician and not allow them to be the imperfect. human they are.
In this day of many means of collecting and storing information we may need to do a lot of fact checking before we decide what to believe or who to trust. We do not want to mistrust all information or people.
Most of us are capable of fact checking the information in our brains or the information we may be considering storing in our brains. Sadly, often we look only for information which reinforces the misinformation already stored in our brains.
Lies, misinformation, generalized fears, shame and a host of other beliefs or emotions can prevent us from spiritually being our best self. We need to daily continue the process of cleaning our brains. We also need to avoid people, places and things which may want to store unhealthy lies or misinformation in our brain. This does not entail mistreating or judging others. It may be enough to know that we are not able to stay healthy if there is not some protective barrier between us and some other people, places and things. I can certainly pray for those who might cause me harm without judging them. We may or may not know what factors such as addiction, other mental illness, or medical issues are affecting behavioral decisions of others
As is true for Nikki Giovanni, I enjoy house cleaning or at least I enjoy the results of house cleaning. I may find it temporarily inconvenient or even uncomfortable, but I seem to be at my best when my home and my brain are less cluttered with real or metaphorical dirt.
Jimmy F Pickett
Written September 29, 2024
Coachpickett.org
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